Isn't that Old School, part 2

My last post was about using a Biblical a "Call to Worship."

I prefer to think of it as a "stir to worship."

I want to word of God to stir the hearts and minds of His people so they can't help but sing from their souls.

Just this Sunday we used Ephesians 2:4-5:

   God is so rich in mercy, and he loved us so much,

   that even though we were dead because of our sins,

   he gave us life when he raised Christ from the dead.

I was the one who picked those verses. I practice reading them expressively. I called the 8:30a crowd to worship using them. And--at the 11:00a service--I read them again.

Gave. Me. Chills.

These kinds of astounding truths can help us start worship gatherings well.

Years before we started using a Call to Worship to open our services, we were using a Benediction to close them. 

Now, in your bulletin (if you still use one) it may say "Benediction" as the last line in the order of worship, but you may really be using a closing prayer. The pastor may call on a deacon or key leader to close the service.

If it's like most of the services I've been in, that closing prayer is a short re-cap of the sermon in prayer form. I'm not suggesting that's bad or wrong, but what we've been doing for several years now has become quite powerful.

I ask the congregation to hold out their hands, palms up. I tell them I have a gift for them.

Then I choose a scriptural benediction to bless them with. You may know this, but the word benediction is a compound word from the latin bene [good] and diction [word]. It is literally a "good word."

And in the fashion of our more liturgical brothers and sisters, I hold my right hand up to impart a blessing. I use God's words, not my own. And I rely heavily on my inflection. I have a deep desire to literally bless the people in the room.

And they tell me it does.

In fact, in one service months ago we closed the service with a song instead of a spoken benediction. One of our newer attenders pulled me aside a month later to "take me to task." She was devastated that she didn't get her blessing that week.

I love that!

If you'd like to give it a shot, here are the six passages I most often use--in part or in whole. And from one translation or another:

May the Lord bless you
   and protect you.
May the Lord smile on you
   and be gracious to you.
May the Lord show you his favor
   and give you his peace. (Numbers 6:24-26)

May God, who gives this patience and encouragement, help you live in complete harmony with each other, as is fitting for followers of Christ Jesus. Then all of you can join together with one voice, giving praise and glory to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. (Romans 15:5-6)

I pray that God, the source of hope, will fill you completely with joy and peace because you trust in him. Then you will overflow with confident hope through the power of the Holy Spirit. (Romans 15:13)

My God, who gives this patience and encouragement, help you live in complete harmony with each other, as is fitting for followers of Christ Jesus. Then all of you can join together with one voice, giving praise and glory to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. (Romans 15:5-6)

I pray that God, the source of hope, will fill you completely with joy and peace because you trust in him. Then you will overflow with confident hope through the power of the Holy Spirit. (Romans 15:13)

I pray that from his glorious, unlimited resources he will empower you with inner strength through his Spirit. Then Christ will make his home in your hearts as you trust in him. Your roots will grow down into God's love and keep you strong. And may you have the power to understand, as all God's people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is. May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God.
   Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think. Glory to him in the church and in Christ Jesus through all generations forever and ever! Amen. (Ephesians 3:16-21)

Now may the God of peace--
   who brought up from the dead our Lord Jesus,
the great Shepherd of the sheep,
   and ratified an eternal covenant with his blood--
may he equip you with all you need
   for doing his will.
May he produce in you,
   through the power of Jesus Christ,
every good thing that is pleasing to him.
   All glory to him forever and ever! Amen. (Hebrews 13:20-21)

Now all glory to God, who is able to keep you from falling away and will bring you with great joy into his glorious presence without a single fault. All glory to him who alone is God, our Savior through Jesus Christ our Lord. All glory, majesty, power, and authority are his before all time, and in the present, and beyond all time! Amen. (Jude 24-25)



Now... go bless your people. Old school.